Saturday, October 17, 2009

"what doth it profit..."

October 17, 2009I believe the quote is, "What doth it profit a man that he gain the world but lose his very soul." I don't know the source of this quote, the bible or Shakespeare or just some Greek philosopher Shakespeare borrowed from. Source isn't as important the result. This is just one of many quotes that leave us with the impression money is BAD, and that rich people are unhappy, unfulfilled and generally miserable. Images through literature of the happy peasants and the Scroogesque miserly , boss / plantation owner / industrial giant, etc etc. reinforce such misconceptions. In spite of these cautionary tales we are inundated with the success = wealth = happiness mythology (mostly in modern times). Recently, I have been receiving a lot of Twitter hits promoting get rich quick schemes, including one from the poster boy for money grubbing, Mr Trump. So permit me to set the record straight, money is only a TOOL, a necessary tool in our culture. Money is not BAD or GOOD it just is. It has no value in itself. The only thing in this life with intrinsic value is TIME, it cannot be saved. Every moment is spent, you can spend it wisely or poorly, but once it has passed it can never be retrieved or reworked.